University Housing

If you will be graduating or ending your affiliation and leaving the university, you are required to terminate your lease by giving Family & Graduate Housing a 45-day notice and by completing the necessary Early Termination of Lease Request Form available online. Your $250 deposit will be refunded to your university account at the time of approval of the termination. Please note that other forms of communication will not serve as notice of your intent to terminate.

Your Family & Graduate Housing lease prohibits the subletting of your apartment. Residents who sublet their apartment will be in violation of their lease and subject to fines and immediate termination of their lease. For more information, contact the Family & Graduate Housing Office.

Family & Graduate Housing has designed a Vacating Brochure for you to use when preparing to leave your apartment. You can download the Vacating Brochure (pdf) or pick up a copy at the Family & Graduate Housing Office. Your apartment will be inspected within the first two working days after keys have been returned to Family & Graduate Housing. Any charges for cleaning, damages and/or repairs will be assessed and will be charged to your university account. All items left in the apartment at the time of inspection will be removed and disposed of by the university. A charge for removal of these items will be assessed to your university account. If you have been using a locker in the basement of Goodwin-Green, remember to remove all of your personal items and your personal lock. Any items remaining in a Goodwin-Green locker after a resident vacates their apartment will be considered abandoned property and will be removed and disposed of by the university. A charge for removal of these items and cleaning of the locker will be assessed to your university account. If you have any questions about these procedures, contact us at the Family & Graduate Housing Office.

File a forwarding address card with the U.S. Postal Service at your local U.S. Post Office or online at USPS.com. We also recommend you send your forwarding address to the Family & Graduate Housing Office: apartments@illinois.edu. Empty your mailbox and remove the label prior to turning in your key.

Discontinue any services to your apartment you have personally arranged – newspapers, diaper service, telephone service, etc. Contact Ameren Illinois to give them your vacate date so they may arrange for your final billing and deposit return.

The apartment should be thoroughly cleaned before you leave. If your apartment does not meet the standards of University Housing, a charge for necessary cleaning and damage must be assessed. When you leave your apartment, it should be as clean as the day you moved in. ALL personal items must be removed from your apartment prior to your departure.

Refrigerator

• Defrost and clean with detergent and water. DO NOT USE SHARP OBJECTS to remove ice, as you may puncture the evaporator lines and will be charged for damages or replacement of the refrigerator.

• Wash and dry the inside and outside of the refrigerator, making sure to remove any marks, stickers or tape.

• Clean the racks, shelves and vegetable bins inside and out. Clean under the bins.

• Remove all items from the refrigerator and freezer and dispose in a dumpster.

• Set controls at the #3 setting after cleaning is completed. Please leave the refrigerator plugged in.

Sink

• Wash the kitchen sink, including fixtures. Use a fine, non-abrasive cleaner for stains and lime residue.
• Clean metal fixtures, including those under the sink.

Cabinets, Drawers, Shelves

• Remove all shelf paper. Wash drawers, shelves and countertops inside and out.
• Remove all personal items from closets and wash hanging rods and shelves.

Windows

• Brush off all screens and leave screens in place in the window.
• Thoroughly clean windows on the inside. Remove all stickers, tape and tape marks from windows and window frames.
• Clean window blinds.

Bathroom

• Clean the toilet with disinfectant both inside and out, including the toilet seat and bowl. Clean the outside of the tank and lid.
• Clean the sink, shower and tub. Clean the walls of the shower and tub. Fiberglass areas must be cleaned with a non-abrasive liquid cleaner. In porcelain areas, a mild detergent may be used. Rinse with water and dry with cloth to remove water spots and film.
• Remove mildew, rust and lime from fixtures and walls, including fixtures under the sink and toilet.
• Wash the medicine cabinet inside and out, including the top of the cabinet and the mirror.

Walls, Ceilings, Doors

• Remove hooks, nails, stickers and tape. Handprints and marks from the ceiling and walls should be removed with mild soap and water.

Water Heater Area

• Clean in and around the water heater closet.

Stove

• We suggest you begin to clean your stove 1 – 2 weeks before you start to move. These are time-consuming jobs and are easy to forget.
• If you have an electric stove, be sure the circuit breaker, located in the electrical panel box, is turned off prior to cleaning.
• Do not extinguish the pilot light on a gas stove.
• Remove all removable parts and clean them in the sink. Do not remove stove burners or oven elements.
• If you have an electric stove, pull the stove out from the wall. Clean the sides, front and back of the stove and the floor and wall behind it. DO NOT pull gas stoves or the gas connectors away from the wall.
• Use oven cleaner to clean the inside of the oven. DO NOT use oven cleaner on the outside of stove. During cleaning, place plastic on the floor in front and under the oven. You may find it helpful to purchase a “fume free” cleaner.
• Remove grease from the racks, broiler pan and tray. Replace these in the oven after cleaning.
• Thoroughly clean burners, drip pans and the area under the drip pans. Please do not submerge electric range burners in water.

Furnace Area

• Wipe off the outside and the vents of the heating units with a damp cloth.
• When leaving, turn the thermostat to 65 degrees heat in the winter. During warm weather, the air conditioner unit thermostat should be turned to low or 80 degrees.

Floors

• All the floors should be swept and wet mopped to remove any dirt and debris. Don’t allow water to stand on floor for long periods of time. Please do not wax the floors.
• Check each corner, behind the stove and refrigerator and in closets for overlooked dirt next to the walls.

After you move out of your apartment, it will be inspected by our staff for damages and cleanliness. In order to avoid additional charges, complete all of the following items before you move out:

• Replace all burned out light bulbs.
• Remember to leave the digital TV adapter (if Comcast has installed one), modem, power supply, three coaxial cables, ethernet cable and splitter in the apartment (you will be charged if they are missing).
• Remove personal items (toys, bikes, grills, etc.) from outdoor storage areas. At Goodwin-Green, storage lockers should be emptied and cleaned.
• Place all garbage and personal items you wish to dispose of (couches, beds, chairs, etc.) directly into the dumpsters. Do not leave items outside or next to dumpsters.

When you vacate your apartment, all apartment keys (including mailbox, apartment and laundry keys) must be turned in to the Family & Graduate Housing Office. Remove all items from your apartment and mailbox, and remove your mailbox label prior to turning in keys. All keys are due by noon on the date your lease ends. Failure to return all apartment keys by noon on your lease end date will result in nightly rent charges at double the normal rental rate. If all keys are not turned in to the Family & Graduate Housing Office by noon on the date your lease ends, you will be assessed charges for missing keys and for the installation of a new lock. Residents will also be assessed charges for mailbox keys and laundry keys that are not returned. Please refer to the Family & Graduate Housing Vacating Brochure for current charges.

If you leave your apartment during hours the office is closed, please place your keys in an envelope, write your name and address on the envelope and place it in the drop box near the front door of the Family & Graduate Housing Office.

If you borrowed items from the Orchard Downs Lending Room, you must return the items prior to your departure from University Housing. Items should be returned clean and in the same condition as when you borrowed them.

As you depart for your next destination, we hope that you will consider donating any useful household and kitchen items in good usable condition that will be helpful to the next group of University Apartment residents who arrive in August.

We do not accept any large furniture, large electronics, cloth items, food or items that are broken, dirty or no longer usable.

We do accept useful items including pots, pans, plates, bowls, silverware, knives, glasses, mugs, can openers, lamps, electric kettles, rice cookers, fans, microwaves and vacuum cleaners, as well as minor items including clothes hangers, trash/dust pans, brooms and laundry baskets. Basically, if you found it useful during your stay, the incoming residents will probably also find it useful!

Borrowed or donated items can be brought to the Lending Room during normal operational hours on Saturdays from 9 to 11 a.m. If you are unable to bring your items during these times, you can leave them at the outside entrance of the Lending Room (2044 Orchard, on the street side) or drop them off at the Family & Graduate Housing Office Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

All items left on the premises (including bicycles and automobiles) at the time of vacating will be removed and disposed of according to university policies.